Editing Kent (section)

===Roads===
[[File:MedwayM2BridgeCloud0169.JPG|thumb|right| The [[M2 motorway (Great Britain)|M2]] and [[High Speed 1]] crossing the [[Medway Valley]], south of [[Rochester, Kent|Rochester]]]]

With the Roman invasion, a road network was constructed to connect London to the Channel ports of Dover, [[Lympne]] and Richborough. The London–Dover road was [[Watling Street]]. These roads are now approximately the A2, B2068, A257, and the A28. The [[A2 road (Great Britain)|A2]] runs through Dartford (A207), Gravesend, Rochester, Canterbury, and Dover; the A20 through [[Eltham]], Wrotham, Maidstone, [[Charing]], Ashford. [[Hythe, Kent|Hythe]], Folkestone and Dover; the [[A21 road (England)|A21]] around Sevenoaks, Tonbridge, Tunbridge Wells and on to Hastings in East Sussex.<ref name=KHI/>

In the 1960s, two motorways were built; the [[M2 motorway (Great Britain)|M2]] from [[Medway]] to Faversham, and the [[M20 motorway|M20]] from [[Swanley]] to Folkestone. Part of the [[M25 motorway|M25]] runs through Kent, from Westerham to the [[Dartford Crossing]]. The [[M26 motorway]], built in 1980, provides a short link between the M25 at [[Sevenoaks]] and the M20 near [[Wrotham]]. Kent currently has more motorways by distance than any other county in the UK, with sections of the M2, M20, M25 and M26 totalling {{convert|173|km|mi|abbr=on}} within the extents of the ceremonial county.{{citation needed|date=March 2025}}

In the run-up to [[Brexit|Britain leaving the European Union]], Government minister [[Michael Gove]] confirmed that the Government intended to impose a ''de facto'' border between Kent and the rest of England for freight lorries,<ref>{{cite news |last=McConnell |first=Ed |url=https://www.kentonline.co.uk/kent/news/border-to-be-set-up-inside-kent-could-see-7-000-lorry-queues-234290/ |title=Worst case post-Brexit lorry havoc scenario for Kent revealed by Michael Gove to House of Commons |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200927143442/https://www.kentonline.co.uk/kent/news/border-to-be-set-up-inside-kent-could-see-7-000-lorry-queues-234290/ |archive-date=27 September 2020 |website=kentonline.co.uk |date=3 September 2020 |access-date=7 February 2021}}</ref> in order to deal with expected lorry queues of 7,000 or more<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-54260470 |title=Brexit: Lorry drivers will need a permit to enter Kent after transition period |work=BBC News |date=23 September 2020 |access-date=7 January 2021 |archive-date=4 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210104154956/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-54260470 |url-status=live }}</ref> at Folkestone, Dover and other ports. [[Heavy goods vehicle]] operators need to apply for a 24-hour Kent Access Permit (KAP) to take a vehicle of 7.5 tonnes or more into Kent if their intention is to cross to the EU via Dover or the [[Eurotunnel]].<ref>{{cite web |work=GOV.UK |url=https://www.gov.uk/check-hgv-border |title=Check an HGV is ready to cross the border (Kent Access Permit) |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210130144042/https://www.gov.uk/check-hgv-border |archive-date=30 January 2021 |access-date=7 February 2021 |date=31 December 2020}}</ref>